Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Thirteen: Out Of Trouble - Into Trouble.
Ellie groans and slams her forehead into her palms.
"Some of us are trying to sleep here." Sharkbait whines from under a blanket on the bottom half of a bunk bed.
"Yeah and some of us have a massive hangover," Ellie starts before shouting the next part. "That these goddamn bright ass lights aren't helping!" She groans again and falls off the bench she was sitting on. "Ow." She pouts.
"Here's an idea, don't drink underage and you won't get a hangover. Or at least don't get arrested with a hangover and you won't have to deal with the lights." Sheriff Keller says. Ellie flips him the bird. "Eleanor Peabody I swear to god-" he starts.
"It's Patel!" Ellie growls.
"Not what it says in the database." He looks at his computer. "Eleanor Peabody, arrested for assault, battery, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, more assault, another battery charge, attempted homicide-?" He reads the last one as a question and raises an eyebrow at her.
"I didn't try to kill anybody! The judge that day just wanted to screw me over." Ellie puts her head in her knees and groans again because of the lights.
" !" Kacey says as she opens the door to the sheriff's office.
"Kacey, what are you doing here?" He asks her.
" please, you have to let Amanda go. Her dad'll kick her out if he knew she was involved. He kicked Eleanor out already. Please! She's not even a Serpent!"
"Kacey I'm sorry, but I can't break the law."
"It's not breaking the law if you drop the charges!"
"That's not my call to make."
"Sheriff please. She's my only friend. You know her! She's a good girl." Kacey pleads. Sheriff Keller sighs and stands, walking to Amanda's cell.
"Patel, get up. You're free to go." He orders. Amanda bolts to her feet.
"Really?!" She smiles, exiting the cell.
"Really?" Ellie's jaw drops and she slams her head back into her lap. "Ugh! That worked?!"
"How come the school lights didn't bother you?" Sharkbait asks.
"They did. I distracted myself from it with-" She looks at Keller then back at Sharkbait. "Pixie sticks."
"Pixie sticks?" Sharkbait cocks his eyebrow.
"Yeah. I got a sugar high and it took away the pain. Happy?" Ellie rolls her eyes and Sharkbait finally catches on.
"Oh! Pixie sticks!" He rolls off his bed and whispers in Ellie's ear. "I happen to have a few on me."
"Didn't they search you?" Ellie asks.
"Secret pocket." Sharkbait slaps his crouch and Ellie wrinkles her nose.
"Not that desperate."
Penny marches into the Sheriff station while Kacey and Amanda leave.
"Eleanor, what the hell?!" She raises her arms from her sides in exasperation and just looks at Ellie.
"Oh thank god." Ellie stands and walks to the bars of her holding cell. "You went to law school or something right? Get me out of here!" Ellie demands.
"Trust me, you don't want her help." Jughead shouts from a few cells down.
"Shut up!" Penny yells at him.
"Yeah, shut the fuck up, Junkhat!" Ellie yells down to him.
"Eleanor it's not that simple. You have a history." Penny tells her.
"The hell it isn't that simple! Kacey just Amanda out with puppy dog eyes!" Eleanor responds.
"And you think my puppy dog eyes are gonna work just as well?" Penny shakes her head. "Look I don't know what the fuck your problem is but this is not how Greg would have raised you."
"I love how you have to say would have because you weren't fucking there." Ellie laughs.
"Are you high right now?!" Penny whisper shouts, leaning closer.
"I wish." Ellie smiles.
"Eleanor!" Penny whisper shouts again.
"What? Geez, I'm just being the Ghoulie you want me to be." She smiles and raises both eyebrows, drawing Penny's attention to her serpent tattoo.
"No. Not with that you aren't. I have an idea. Trust me."
"Whatever."
"Eleanor. Trust. Me."
"Yeah, Okay, I said whatever! God!"
Penny leaves the sheriff's station. Eleanor puts a hand out towards Sharkbait, not turning her eyes from the door.
"Okay, now I'm that desperate." She says. Sharkbait smiles. He checks to make sure Keller isn't looking before reaching into his underwear and pulling out a colorful Jingle Jangle tube and hands it to Ellie. Ellie instantly rips it open, crumpling up the tube when she's done and tossing it into the next cell over.
"Oh that's perfect." Ellie sinks against the wall with a goofy grin plastered on her face.
Keller looks up from his clipboard and noticed the tube in the cell. "Do I have to add a drug charge?" He glares at Black Eye.
"That's not mine, I swear!" Black Eye puts his hands in the air.
"You're the only one in the cell."
"Well it's not mine! Check the Ghoulies man, they're the drug dealers!" Black Eye shouts.
"Hey!" Ellie hits the wall connecting the cells with the back of her hand. "Stop talking shit!" She falls forward in a fit of giggles, unaware of the giant bruise that had formed on the back of her hand.
After what felt like forever it was finally time for the hearings. Ellie got off without a charge being added to her record, Sharkbait got house arrest for a month, and Jughead somehow got out scott free.
"How'd you get me off?" Ellie asks as she follows her mom out of the sheriff's station.
"I made a deal. That's what lawyers do." Penny replied.
"What kind of deal? I'm not going to-"
"You don't have to do anything. It was a two for one deal."
"Two for one?"
"An old friend of mine and I had similar interests. He had connections to get someone out and I asked him to get you out too."
"What did you do for him?"
"You ask a lot of questions for someone who should just be thankful." Penny turns to Ellie and Ellie stops walking.
"Thanks." She mumbles.
They reach their home and Ellie instantly turns around. "Gotta go."
"You aren't going anywhere, you just got arrested for a gang fight!" Penny argues.
"No. I got arrested because someone else started a gang fight and I had to keep up the facade you put in place." Ellie rolls her eyes and leaves, ignoring all the threats that get thrown her way.
She wanders the streets, unsure where to go but sure she doesn't want to be home, when she passes Toni.
"Hey!" She calls, but Toni ignores her. Ellie steps in front of her. "Were you really just about to ignore me? How did things work out after the fight? Are you okay?" Ellie asks, sincerely concerned.
"Move." Toni doesn't meet Ellie's eyes.
"Why won't you talk to me? I know what I did was shitty but you don't have to damn my name over it!" Ellie looks a mix of sad and angry.
"It's not what you did. It's who you are." She finally looks up into Ellie's eyes. "I can't be seen talking to a Ghoulie." She pushes past Eleanor and walks off into the night. Ellie watches her for a moment, unsure what to do.
"No." She finally says. "No that's a bullshit excuse!" She walks up next to Toni.
"I don't know what you expect me to say, Eleanor!" Toni snaps.
"Neither do I, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting you to say that. You don't follow the rules. That's your thing. Jughead told you not to associate with me when I first came to town and you sat with me and Amanda and Kacey anyway." She steps in front of her again to stop her from walking. "The patch on my jacket wouldn't make you avoid me. Hell, you marched right up to my table at lunch the other day!"
"And what makes you think you know me so well?!" Toni spits.
"Maybe I don't know you." Ellie shakes her head slightly. "'Maybe I only know the parts of you that I've seen these past few months in town. Or maybe I only know the parts of you I remember from before I moved." She looks in her eyes. "But I'd like to know you. I'd like to get to know the parts of you that I have yet to meet. But I can't do that if you keep pushing me away over one poor judgment call."
Silence fills the air as Toni thinks. Her face softens for a second before scrunching back up.
"It was more than a poor judgment call." She pushes past Eleanor again and this time Ellie lets her leave. She watches Toni leave before turning around and heading off to Amanda's.
She knocks on the door and Steve answers.
"I thought I told you to never return to my house." Steve spits, his breath a combination of garlic and cigarettes.
"I'm just here to see Amanda." Ellie tries to hide her face, knowing damn well that Steve would instantly see she was high.
"You're not ever seeing her again. She's lucky you left when you did so you couldn't hurt her." Steve slams the door in Ellie's face before she can respond.
Ellie's high starts to wear down. She slumped against the trailer, sitting in the mud around it.
A car pulls up in front of her, it's familiar to her but she can't remember why. That's when Sharkbait sticks his head out the drivers window and over the top of the car.
"You look like you could use some fun." He smiles at Ellie. Ellie just looks at him, not really wanting to do anything but keep sitting there. But she figured she'd have to leave eventually and a drive sounded a lot better than walking. So she got up, walked to the car, and hopped in. "Alright!" Sharkbait says, pulling himself back into the car. "Let's go!" He floors the gas and Ellie instantly regrets getting in.
"Fuck man! Slow down!" She grabs the 'oh shit' bar above the window with one hand and dashboard with the other.
"There's only one way I know how to drive and that's fast!" He replies. "Woohoo!"
Ellie's face turns green and her head starts to pound. "Slow! The fuck! Down!"
Sharkbait ignores her and keeps whipping around corners, not really watching the road. Like at all.
Ellie looks out the front window and sees Toni walking in front of them. "Stop!" Ellie yells.
"Why?! You gotta hit something eventually!"
"Are you insane?!" The car is now inches from Toni and having exhausted all other options, Ellie grabs the wheel and spins it. Hard. They crash into a pole, sparing the Serpent girl, but sending Sharkbait flying through the window.
Ellie coughs, pushing against the airbag and tries to undo the seatbelt. "Shit." She mumbles. "Shit!" She says again, giving up. She looks around the mess of metal that surrounds her, thankful it didn't explode. "Okay. Seatbelt's stuck. I can figure this out." She looks to the drivers seat and just then notices Sharkbait is no longer there. "I told him to wear a seat belt." She mumbles.
She rolls her head to the side and grabs her neck in pain. "Ah fuck!" She feels around the back of her neck and her eyes widen with fear when she touches cold metal. She keeps her hand on the metal piece for a moment, freaking out. "Spine." She whispers. "The spine." She moves her hand to the base of her hairline on her neck and feels down the spine. Her hands don't feel metal and she sighs in relief. "Thank god." She mumbles.
Next she moves her hand to the jugular, feeling down the long vein and near smiles when she again doesn't feel metal.
"Good. I can't afford any more hospital bills." She says, moving her hand back to the metal piece between her spine and jugular. She feels down the rigid rod until she hits the end of it. "And I'm not attached to anything." She drops her hand to her side.
Ellie then turns her attention to her legs. She can't see beyond her knees due to the metal that surrounded them but her thighs looked okay.
"Ellie?" She hears a female tentatively call from just outside the car. The girl coughs and Ellie turns to the window.
Ellie keeps her mouth shut, not wanting anyone to know she was a part of this.
"Eleanor?" The girl asks again, coughing as her footsteps near the wreck.
Ellie turns her attention back to her legs. She grabs her left one and pulls hard. Pain shoots up her leg from where she pulled and she drops it, screaming in pain. "Ah! Fuck! Fuck! Shit!"
"Ellie!" The girl from outside shrieks. Ellie hears the girl start to move some metal and glass.
"Shit." Ellie mumbles. She knew she didn't have a choice now; the girl knew she was in the car. "I'm fine." She stutters.
"Hold on, I'm coming to help." The girl calls.
"I don't need help. I'm fine, I've got it." Ellie looks at the metal around her leg. 'No way to move it' she thinks.
The girl outside finally reaches the car, her pink hair now covered with smoke and dust.
"Go away Toni, I'm fine." Ellie doesn't look at her.
"Stop being ridiculous." Toni looks at Ellie's leg through what's left of the shattered window. "Your leg is stuck."
"No shit." Ellie takes off her jacket and puts the sleeve in her mouth. She then takes hold of her leg, preparing to pull.
"Wait! A piece of the car, it's through your leg and wedged in the metal. You can't pull free without moving it." Toni points, forgetting Ellie can't see past her knees.
"I can't reach it, I'll just rip the muscle." Ellie says through the leather in her mouth.
"Maybe I can get it out of the metal." Toni offers. Ellie takes the sleeve out of her mouth and finally looks at Toni.
"I thought you weren't talking to me?" She cocks her bleeding eyebrow, causing it to drip blood down her face.
"I'm not. But I don't want to see you die either." Toni says, leaning forward and reaching through the crumpled window frame.
"How do you know I didn't just tell Sharkbait to run you over?" Ellie says.
"Because I saw you turn the wheel." Toni grunts, trying to stretch to reach Ellie's leg. "I wasn't sure it was you at first. That's why I called your name."
"You're not gonna reach it." Ellie tells her.
"I almost can." She insists. She reaches forward one more time, stepping on some of the metal pieces to boost her up. "So close." She stretches out further, causing her to fall forward into the car. Ellie catches her last second before she falls on a sharp piece of metal.
"You can't help." Ellie says, helping her back out of the window.
"Let me try." Toni pleads.
"I let you try. Now get out of here before Sharkbait wakes up." Ellie puts the jacket back between her teeth.
"I'm not sure he will." Toni replies, looking outside the car at something Ellie can't see.
"He's just passed out." Ellie shakes her head as if to shake the thought away.
"El, I think he's dead." Toni says. Ellie hesitates but takes a deep calming breath. She puts her hands on her knee.
"Is the metal stuck to the right or left of the car?" She asks.
"Left." Toni replies. Ellie nods and takes one more breath before pulling her leg to the right. She screams but it's muffled by the jacket. She feels her leg slide off the warm metal and hit the cold air. The piece wasn't deep in her, but it was deep enough to hurt. Bad.
Ellie pants heavily and spits the jacket out.
"You're free." Toni sighs, relieved.
"Move back." Ellie orders. She nods and steps away from the car. Ellie pulls both her legs up onto the seat, sliding them through the gap between her and the metal front of the car and turns sideways. She takes a knife out of her jacket pocket and cuts free from the seatbelt. Next, she takes off her flannel and holds it up to her bleeding leg, before moving the bleeding leg out of the way and using her good leg to kick the crumpled up door. The door breaks off the car, giving her enough room to safely exit the pile of metal.
Ellie sits on the gas soaked ground, crawling her way backwards away from the wreck.
"Why didn't you just use the window?" Toni asks, walking up to Ellie and crouching next to her.
"You try crawling through crushed in, broken, tiny ass window while keeping pressure on a wound." Ellie responds. "Besides," She smiles. "I wanted to show off."
Toni rolls her eyes and smiles slightly. "I'm still mad at you, though that was impressive." She jokes.
"And I'm still letting you be mad at me."
"Letting me?"
"Yeah, I could get you to forgive me any time I want. I just don't want to yet." Ellie winks and instantly regrets it, bringing her hand to her eye. "I gotta say, I'm tired of having Black Eyes."
She looks over at Sharkbait. He's not moving and covered in blood.
"We should call someone." Toni says, following Ellie's gaze.
"No. Not yet." Ellie stands and hobbles over to him, falling over when she gets there. She puts her fingers on his neck and shakes her head. "No pulse." She mumbles. She lifts his jacket and checks the pockets.
"Looking for something specific?" Toni asks, walking up next to her.
"Not something you'd approve of." Eleanor says, cocking her head and biting her lip. Toni watches her check his pockets before realizing what she's looking for.
"Ellie no." Toni says.
"Let me make my own decisions, T." Ellie finally finds what she's looking for and smiles. "Yes!" She pulls out some colorful straws.
"Eleanor you're not doing that!" Toni tries to swipe them away from her but Ellie dodges.
"Yes I am." She opens one. "Unless you know another way to take my pain away." She downs the contents of the tube before putting the empty tube back into Sharkbait's pocket.
"I can't believe you just did that!" Toni scolds her in disbelief.
"Not my first time." Ellie relaxes instantly. "Man these may be uppers but they calm me the fuck down." She lifts her flannel off her leg and grimaces. "That doesn't look good." She recovers the wound.
Toni sighs. "Come on. Let me at least help fix you up." She offers a hand to Ellie.
"I can't go back to Penny like this and I can't go back to the hospital." Ellie says, taking Toni's hand.
"I know." Toni helps her up and wraps Ellie's arm around her shoulder.